The FETC conference brings together technology experts and innovators with teachers, principals and deans, district administrators, and curriculum designers. Keynotes, networking opportunities and hands-on workshops enable discussions on new teaching ideas and methods, emerging technologies, and advance technology integration in the classroom.

KinderLab Robotics has been selected by the NSF to showcase its developmentally-appropriate robot kit, KIBO, which teaches the fundamental of programming to children aged four to seven years old. KIBO develops cognitive, social, emotional and motor skills, and encourages open-ended play while its customizable platform combines technology with expressive arts.

Mitch Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of KinderLab Robotics, said: “We’re honored to have been selected by the NSF, and are excited to share our experience, ideas – and to showcase KIBO – at this year’s event. KIBO was born out of 15 years of child development research and we are dedicated to helping teachers improve the trajectory of computer science and STEAM education. Technology is an integral part of our lives, and it’s imperative that children learn at an early age how to approach it. With KIBO, teachers and children find learning about technology to be creative and fun.”

KinderLab Robotics creates toys and educational tools that enable young children to learn critical technical, problem-solving, and cognitive skills in a developmentally appropriate and playful way. While STEM education products exist for middle- and high-school students, KinderLab uniquely fills a need for a critical population: children under the age of seven. KinderLab products are based on over 15 years of academic and field research into how young children learn foundational concepts in programming and engineering, by integrating them into a multidisciplinary curriculum that includes literacy, the expressive arts and cultural studies.

KinderLab Robotics is headquartered in Arlington, Massachusetts. It was founded by Marina Umaschi Bers and Mitch Rosenberg in May 2013. The first KIBO prototype, KIWI, was created in the DevTech labs of Tufts University in 2008. www.kinderlabrobotics.com